Paraquat Trials Scheduled for October 2025 & April 2026

Paraquat Trials Scheduled for October 2025 & April 2026

Introduction

A U.S. District Judge overseeing thousands of federal Paraquat lawsuits has ordered the preparation of six cases for potential bellwether trials, with the first two scheduled to begin on October 14, 2025, and April 6, 2026.

Allegations in the lawsuits

These lawsuits allege that exposure to the toxic weedkiller Paraquat caused users to develop Parkinson’s disease, and that manufacturers, including Syngenta and Chevron, failed to warn the public about the risks.

Paraquat was originally developed in the 1950s by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and marketed under the name Gramoxone in the 1960s. Over the years, Syngenta and Chevron have sold Paraquat under different brand names. However, agricultural workers and others exposed to the herbicide claim that the companies continued promoting it despite knowing of its potential link to Parkinson’s disease.

Currently, more than 5,800 product liability lawsuits have been filed in federal courts, centralized in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) under a U.S. District Judge in the Southern District of Illinois since June 2021. These cases share common allegations regarding Paraquat’s safety and the manufacturers' failure to disclose health risks.

To assess how juries might respond to the evidence and testimony, the court is proceeding with a bellwether process, where a small group of representative cases will be tried first. The goal is to provide insight into potential jury verdicts, which could influence settlement negotiations for the broader litigation.

Delays and Selection of New Bellwether Cases

The bellwether trial process experienced setbacks last year when the first batch of selected cases was dismissed after the judge excluded plaintiffs’ expert witness testimony. In August 2024, the court selected 10 new bellwether candidates, fast-tracking them for trial. Over the past six months, both plaintiffs and defendants have conducted case-specific discovery on six of these lawsuits and submitted competing proposals regarding how they should proceed.

On January 23, 2025, the judge issued a court order confirming that full case-specific discovery would continue for all six bellwether cases, with two trials moving forward later this year. Three of these cases will be part of the first trial group on October 14, 2025, while the remaining three will be eligible for the second bellwether trial on April 6, 2026.

The court also established deadlines for the trials, with summary judgment and Daubert briefings due by August 15, 2025 for the first case. The judge will announce a hearing date for these motions in a future order.

Potential Impact of Bellwether Trials

Although the outcomes of these bellwether trials will not directly determine the results of other Paraquat lawsuits, they are expected to heavily influence potential settlement amounts. If juries rule in favor of the plaintiffs, Syngenta and Chevron may face pressure to negotiate Paraquat settlements to avoid having thousands of individual claims remanded to federal courts nationwide for separate trials.

As the litigation progresses, these bellwether cases will serve as a critical indicator of the potential liability facing Paraquat manufacturers and the future direction of the lawsuits.